Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initially stated that it lacked the necessary resources to pursue a case against Amazon due to significant budget and personnel cuts imposed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. However, in a surprising turn of events, the agency later retracted its statement, claiming that it indeed had the necessary resources to proceed with the case.

The case in question involves Amazon’s alleged deceptive practices in signing users up for subscriptions. During a hearing on Wednesday, Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, requested that US District Judge John Chun postpone the trial until September, citing the agency’s resource and personnel shortages, as reported by Bloomberg.

Cohen informed the judge that the agency had experienced staff losses, including employees in the division and on the case team, resulting in a severe resource shortfall in terms of both funding and personnel. He further emphasized that the agency’s financial constraints were so severe that it might not be able to purchase the transcript from Wednesday’s hearing.

This statement came after an announcement that the Department of Government Efficiency had canceled approximately 200,000 government credit cards across the federal government, significantly limiting the spending capabilities of these agencies.

However, shortly after the hearing, Cohen reached out to the court to retract his previous statement, saying, “I was wrong. The Commission does not have resource constraints, and we are fully prepared to litigate this case.” He assured the court that the FTC would meet any schedule and deadlines set.

Amazon has disputed the notion that the government is unprepared for the case. According to the company’s lawyer, John Hueston, “There has been no showing on this call that the government does not have the resources to proceed to trial with the trial date as presently set.” He added that the government’s trial team remains intact and that an office move, if it occurs, would likely cause only minimal disruption.

The situation remains unclear, but it appears to be another unusual event in the current administration. Gizmodo has reached out to the FTC for clarification and will update this story if a response is received.